Chương 45: 44. The Wrong Door

Just as all the knights before I avoided the bedroom. It wasn't the fear of attacks that got to me, not the desperation, but the craziness that came as a result of it. People were starting to care less and less and reverting to their carnal instincts. It always happened when the pause between trials was too long. Sitting uncomfortably on the front seat at the arena, I waited. Several times I had given in and paid a silver coin to have a one on one with a specific monster.

There would be no reward, but at least I got a bit more practice. The first few times, I had chosen the aelf. His cards and skills had remained unchanged, although he had become a lot more violent. At this stage, it was safe to say he was fighting me as an equal and, to my great pride, still losing. I had also attempted to challenge the royal siren, but the arena didn't accept my request. For all intents and purposes, that while part of the trial seemed to be memory-holed. How come you never use me?

Serp complained.

"I thought you didn't want fake opponents." Anything's better than this boredom. All you do is eat, and talk, and shit.

"There will be something for you to kill soon enough." Yeah, right. How about that Marcus guy? He looks fun. Why don't you kill him? There was no point in getting into an argument. The whole concept of living weapons still remained a bit iffy to me. Assuming it was an actual living entity; it was one with the collecting stubbornness of a continent of mules. A series of barks echoed in my mind. The dream pup was letting me know that Marcus had finally gone to sleep. I hesitated.

Several times I had considered entering his dreams and just as many times had chosen not to. While it was true that he had no protection against such attacks, for now, he was one never to forget a grudge. There was always the risk that he would turn on me if he felt threatened.

"Alright," I closed my eyes.

"Let's go." Sleep came instantaneously. As I was sitting on the seat, I suddenly noticed that the rest of the room had vanished. It had taken me a lot longer to figure out that this wasn't the current state in reality.

"Pup," I said, needing confirmation. The dream Dalmatian emerged from the surrounding fog, wagging its tail.

"Good," I said, patting it on the head. There no longer was any doubt that I was in a dream.

"Take me to Marcus." Once again, the creature ran forward, forming a tunnel into the surrounding wall of mist. After walking for a while, I found myself in the psychopath's dream. Just as in the previous time, the area remained completely barren. If a thing like sterile dreams existed, this was it. Even the fog felt particularly lifeless, like a murky wall of graying milk.

"Cover me," I ordered the dream pup, several steps before entering Marcus' clearing. The dream creature complied, turning me into a humanoid of dirty cotton.

"About time you showed up," the dream form of Marcus said the moment I emerged from the tunnel. He gave me one quick glance, then tilted his head.

"You can do better than that." Pup, I mentally said. Disperse. I wasn't expecting him to be so sharp. Even without the cards or items, his intuition special remained too good. The mist surrounding me quickly vanished, revealing the form I was in. Deities could choose any form, but when it came to mortals, we were stuck with the one we had in real life.

"You're wasting your time," Marcus said with a blank expression on his face.

"I won't sign your pact, and I'm not into men, either." Both statements were a relief. It also proved that someone was recruiting him, only in a lot more subtle way. Sponsorship offers could only be seen by the deities and the players involved. If someone was using dreams, it was so that Harlequin and specific other deities wouldn't be aware. Also, this was probably the only instance I had seen his intuition lead him astray.

"I'm not here to convince you of anything," I said.

"I'm just here to talk."

"No, you're not." Direct as ever.

"You're right. I'm not here just to talk. I'm here to ask you a few questions," I took a step forward.

"For example, did you know that you could use spheres to boost any item?"

"Yes," he said without elaborating.

"Must be nice to rely on a nice special," I did my best to force a laugh.

"Any idiot would have tested that out." His dream self really had no filter. That aside, I could understand why he was so good at understanding systems. His mind was like a possibility engine, combining everything with everything and keeping all the information to himself. He didn't grow slightly like I did, but rather accumulated information until the right moment, then suddenly exploded.

"Any luck with cards?" I asked on a hunch. His eyes narrowed.

"I'll get my own weapon," he said.

"Not something you'll give." On the surface, I remained unchanged, but this was a rather major piece of information. No wonder dream deity followers were so overpowered. Dream fighting aside, they had the ability to achieve what everyone else could only wish for: an open, unfiltered conversation. My dream pup was possibly the only thing that provided a certain degree of protection. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

So, you can add cards to divine weapons, I thought.

"So, you'll join the group?" I pressed on.

"I don't work well in groups," he said.

"But I'll know after the fourth challenge is over."

"Even if Greg joins as well?" I couldn't help myself. After all this time, even I had developed a certain level of vanity.

"He's not a complete idiot," he said without batting an eye.

"And he knows things. A lot more than you." This felt wrong. There was no way his intuition could be so off. Pup, get me out of here! I ordered. The next thing I knew, I was back in the arena chamber. Sweat covered my face as if I had gone through a nightmare. My heart was beating so fast that I could feel it in my chest and throat. What the fuck? I shouted mentally, my anger causing the dream pup to yelp in my mind.

Visiting Marcus' dreams had provided me with quite a bit of insight, yet I hadn't been in there alone.

"Serp, did you feel anything?" I asked. Felt you being a piss-ass, the sword replied. Lately, it had been getting more vulgar. So, nothing out of the ordinary. I took out my divine blades, which placed the second copy of the Archer card on them. Nothing happened. Despite some reservations, I then summoned Serp as well. I brushed the card along his blade, but still nothing.

"Why can't you eat cards?" I asked. It's too early for that! If you'd feed me more, I'd be able to! So, there was another condition. I put all the swords away. Is that it? Serp protested. You're really getting old, old man! At least get someone in here to duel!

"Later," I said. Now was not the time. The difficulty of the last two trials hadn't managed to scar my confidence one bit. It was the new aspects of the Arcana that had me shaken to the core. I felt like spending years memorizing pieces of a puzzle and how they came together to realize that I had only completed the frame. Ten years—that's how long it had been necessary for a piece of scum to gain enough worth. The saddest part was that I wasn't alone.

Avon, Sparta, the few others that I considered friends—all of them had been at my level. Or were they? I didn't get any more sleep that night. Most of the time I spent just sitting there, staring at the ceiling. Only when I felt hunger, I chose to return to the rest of the group. Eleonor was also there. Seeing me, she shook her head in disappointment. Apparently, I hadn't been the only one who had been let down during the night.

"Rise up, participants!" Harlequin's voice boomed throughout the room.

"Your fourth trial is at hand." A series of red and yellow balloons poured into the center. Without a word, everyone rushed towards the walls. Even Carl remained surprisingly quiet and agreeable. Once he saw me, he grinned and gave me a thumbs-up. Idiot, I thought.

"It has only been three trials and a half, but you managed to utterly disappoint the deities." The balloons merged into one, forming the familiar figure of our torturer.

"You have abused the generosity shown to you, giving little in return." His back bent, forming a ninety-degree angle with his legs.

"No significant achievements!" The porcelain mask moved up to an unfortunate participant.

"No magnificent fights!" He turned to another.

"No spectacles!" He glared my way. Thanks to my Observer card, I could see most of the people shivering. The only ones that didn't were those that had a divine pact, as well as Marcus.

"It seems that the deities have overestimated you, despite the marginally better performance of certain participants." Gee, I wonder who those might be? Mentally I smirked.

"For that reason, the next trial will be more to your level." Ten cards appeared on the wall facing me. All of them were face down, arranged neatly in a row.

"There will be only ten rewards this trial," Harlequin continued.

"The winner gets to pick one and leave the rest for those after. After the last card is chosen, there will be no further rewards." One had to admit, it was a rather efficient threat, but chances were that there still would be fewer people alive than dead. If the cruise trial was any indication, a large part of the people were not up to the task, not to mention that because of Sebastian's actions, they weren't likely to particularly trust each other, either.

"All wounds and harm suffered during the trial will be healed, though no deaths will be reverted!" Now, that was a far better threat.

"The goal of your next trial will be hunting!" I felt a sudden jolt of energy. This was the first familiar description I had heard. The order still wasn't a hundred percent exact, but one of the early trials during my previous run had been a hunting one. Last time, Harlequin had gone into detail before the start of the trial. Holding my breath, I waited.

"All you have to do is find and kill five phoenix-hawks and guard their feathers," the jester continued to speak, but I was barely listening. There was no mistake. I had gone through this trial before. It involved a jungle, choices, and lots and lots of elves. It was one of the low-level trials that were relatively easy to survive, though next to impossible to win any prizes in. All the people I knew who had tried had ended up dying.

"There will be no special treatment," Harlequin's voice boomed, snapping me back to the present.

"No chests with cards, no free gold, no safe areas! If you want to receive any gifts from the deities, you better show some exceptional talent or die trying." Harlequin straightened up again, then unwinded into two distinct separate streams of smoke—one red and one yellow. As they spiraled around each other, a doorway formed. Rather, it was four doors attached to one another, forming a stone rectangle.

"Just as before, the winners go first," he said.

"Each door will send you to a different place in the jungle. Some are more dangerous, yet contain a greater number of phoenix-hawks. You have one minute to choose, or the choice will be made for you." Everyone turned in my direction.

"Which door will you take?" a woman whispered next to me. I didn't even look her way. Because of my achievements so far, most assumed I would be the one to go ahead, but they were mistaken. Cathy had been the winner of the last event.

"Catherine Shaw," Harlequin's voice boomed.

"You are first." All the attention shifted to the woman. There was a time when I would have said that she was brimming with confidence. Now, I knew better. Just watching her walk, I could see the fear in her steps—fear, I suspected, of her deity. Having a pact with a hunting deity forced her to be in first place. Anything less would earn her some serious punishment. Three skulls, I thought. Pick the one with three skulls. Cathy circled the rectangle of doors, carefully observing each.

Now and again, she would stop, hesitating whether to go inside, before continuing on to the next one. Just pick it. The three skulls door was the most dangerous starting point, but thanks to her skills, she was going to gain the most from it. Along with Marcus and me, the three of us could well do a repeat of the goblin challenge and end up ahead. Harlequin had been very explicit when he had said that there would be no special treatment, yet nothing in what he said changed all that much.

True, there would be no chests with cards hidden about, as there were on the cruise ship, but there was still a chance of a drop as long as we were willing to risk it all. Cathy circled the doors yet again. Come on! Things would have been so much easier if I had taken the lead. Instead, I was sixth. Feeling my pulse rush, I watched her stop at the door with the emblem of the three skulls on it. Then, I watched her move on and enter the one right of it. Fucking hell! I cursed.